User:Isabelle Rocca/Notebook/Biology 210 at AU

1/27/15 Purpose The purpose of this lab was to observe the life that grew from the culture that was created this past week. Samples were taken from the top and bottom to see if there would be any biodiversity present in the two different locations. The previous entry included a hypothesis that stated we thought the life present would be commonly found in wet marshy areas, so we will look under the microscope to see if this is true. Materials • Hay Infusion Culture that was created last week • Microscope slides and cover slips • Pipettes • Compound light microscope • Dichotomous key of microorganisms

Methods 1. Obtained our hay infusion culture that we created last week 2. Using the slides and cover slips, we created two wet mounts: one from the top of the culture, and one from the bottom 3. Using the microscope, the slides were examined on different magnifications to look for microorganisms found in the culture 4. Once a microorganism was found, it was identified using the dichotomous key Data and Observations

Upon obtaining the Hay Infusion Culture, a bad smell was coming from the jar. There was a brown, translucent liquid in the jar, with plant residue around the bottom. There was something growing on the top of the liquid that had an oil-like appearance. Samples of the culture were taken from two separate locations: one on the top, and one on the bottom. The top sample was taken from whatever was growing on the top of the liquid, and the bottom sample was taken from around some submerged straw. It was hypothesized that there would be more organisms around the straw or other plants because the organisms would have something else to feed on. Organisms from top of culture: • Colpidium: 80-90 micrometers in length, oval shaped, small mouth, fast swimmer, ciliated body, colorless, protest, non-photosynthesizing • Bursaria Truncatella: large body, large open mouth, cilia, protest, non-photosynthesizing • Pelomyxa: 1-5 milimeters, creeps with pseudopods, shape changes, colorless, protest, non-photosynthesizing Organisms from bottom of culture: • Colpidium: 80-90 micrometers in length, oval shaped, small mouth, fast swimmer, ciliated body, colorless, protest, non-photosynthesizing • Paramecium: Colorless, moves with cilia, cigar shaped, longer than colpidium, protest, non-photosynthesizing • Unknown organism: 15 micrometers, colorless, fast moving, found around plant matter, colorless, so probably non-photosynthesizing

The colpidium meet all the needs of life because: they get energy by ingesting food, the colpidium is a single celled organism, it has a nucleus which stores all its genetic information, they reproduce asexually, and it is believed that, like other ciliates, the colpidium evolved from other eukaryotes early on in history. If the culture was to grow for another two months, I hypothesize that there would be more forms of life, whose populations would grow by being allowed to feed on the present life for a longer amount of time. Also, some populations would die out because they run out of food, or they are not used to eating the food that is present in the culture. Some variables that would affect the life growing in the cultures would be: water temperature, amount of sunlight received, and amount of plant matter present in the culture.

Conclusion At least one of the identified microorganisms, the colpidium, are commonly ofund in places that have water and soil present. This somewhat proves our hypothesis. Most organisms that were identified were found on both the top and bottom of the culture, so there was not much difference in the locations.

Hay Infusion Culture Lab

1/25/15 Purpose: In this lab, we are creating a culture in order to examine the forms of life that are present around the school. Each lab group was given a different transect of a different wildlife area around the school. We observed the living and non-living components that make up a biological niche. My group’s transect resembled a marshy/ swamp sort of land, because it was right by a water drain. I hypothesize that the types of organisms we will observe will be found commonly around areas of water and mossy life. Materials: • A wildlife transect found somewhere on the grounds of AU • Paper • Pencil • 50 ml conical tube • 500 mls water • .1 g of dried milk • Medium sized plastic jar Methods: 1. Go out to assigned transect and observe the biotic and abiotic substance found there 2. Draw an aerial view of the transect 3. Describe the location, and topography of the transect 4. In the conical tube collect 50% soil from the area, and 50% vegetation from the area 5. Back in the lab, weigh out 10-12 grams of the collected soil/vegetation, and place it in the jar 6. Add 500 mls of water to the jar with the sample 7. Finally add the dried milk to the water and the sample in the jar 8. Put the lid on the jar and gently mix for 10 seconds 9. Open the jar and place it somewhere safe in the lab Data and Observations: The transect of my group was on the north eastern side of campus, in the front of the Kogod building. It is supposed to have the characteristics of a marshy/ swamp land, because it is located by a water drain. Most of the plants found in the small garden were dead for the winter, but there was still green grass and moss present. Some of the biotic features that can be found in the transect are grass, moss, red cardinal flowers, cat tails, and straw plants. Some abiotic features that are there are rocks, snow, a metal sign, trash, and soil. The sample obtained for the culture consisted of soil, snow, moss, some leaves from the plants, grass, and some straw from the plant.

Conclusion: Back at the lab, a hay infusion culture was made using the sample from the transect. It will incubate for a week, so that next week, the living organisms that are present in the transect will be observable under the microscope. This will demonstrate what sort of organisms grow in different environments around the school. IR

First Entry 1/22/15 I like the color orange. IR